Prep Baseball Report

PBR IL: Harper College Scout Day Takeaways


By: Isaiah Glidden & Tyler Defibaugh
Illinois Staff

On Thursday, Oct. 19th, PBR Illinois traveled to Bo Jackson Elite Sports Dome in Bensenville, Ill., for the Harper College Scout Day. The event featured over 30 players and allowed our staff to get an inside look at the Panthers before the 2024 season.

Shortly after the event’s conclusion, we rolled out a full statistical data dive, highlighting several of the day’s standout performers from a measurable data perspective. Learn more about those names, here.

We’re diving deeper into the event today with these takeaways, where you’ll learn more about a handful of the day’s standouts.

TAKEAWAYS

+ The team leader in home runs from the 2023 season returns for the Hawks in C/CIF Kyle Odeshoo (Prospect, 2022; IL). The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Odeshoo showed to be a name to monitor for the 2024 spring season following the event. The right/right backstop displayed some of the quicker hands at the plate (T27.1 mph hand speed) while backing it up with bat strength (avg. 92.1 mph ev, T97.4), and hitting the ball hard 73% of the time during his bp round. Odeshoo was quick behind the dish, turning in the best pop time range of the event at 1.93-2.03 seconds, pairing that with a strong arm at 79 mph.

+ OF Alex Birt (Glenbrook North, 2023; IL) was another name who impressed during the BP portion of the event. Listed at 5-foot-10, 180-pounds, Birt swung a simple right-handed bat and creates some easy hand (22.8 mph avg.) and bat speed (79.2 mph avg.), too. During his round, Birt’s hardest hit ball of the day came off the bat at 97.3 mph, which was good for second best of the event, and he also averaged 87.4 mph throughout. Also, his 6.97 speed was apparent during his round of outfield defense as he was a quick mover from side-to-side and paired it with an arm that topped at 84 mph, too.

+ OF/1B Andrew Mann (East Leyden, 2023; IL) is built at 6-foot-2, 200-pounds and he came away a winner from last week’s scout day with Harper. Mann started off his day by running a 7.02 60-yard dash, a noteworthy number, especially for someone of his stature. He then took a quality round of BP where he worked up the middle and to his pull side, averaging 87.8 mph off the bat and his hardest ball of the day came off at 94.3 mph, respectively. He also put up some of the days top blast metrics, as he averaged a hand speed of 25 mph and a bat speed of 77.2.

+ CIF Colin Kalinowicz (Elk Grove, 2022; IL) is a strong and compact 5-foot-11, 215-pound corner infielder who impressed on Thursday. Offensively, Kalinowicz swung a strong left-handed bat that created some of the days top batted ball metrics. During his round his average exit velocity was 87.5 mph, with his hardest ball coming off at 96.1 mph and his furthest batted ball traveled an estimated distance of 335 feet, too.

+ One of the most explosive rounds of BP came from OF Cole Ratliff (Fremd, 2022; IL). Built at an athletic 6-foot, 185-pounds, Ratliff started his day by clocking in the fastest 60-yard dash time of the day at 6.91 where he reached a top speed of 19.9 mph. Offensively, he created some noteworthy Blast metrics from his quick right-handed swing, averaging a hand speed of 25.0 mph and a bat speed of 83.6 mph, both of which were event highs. As for his batted ball metrics, his hardest hit ball of his round came off at 95.7 mph and he averaged 86.2 mph, too. Defensively, he is an athletic mover in the outfield and also topped at 87 mph on his hardest throw home.

+ LHP/OF Ethan Dorka (Hoffman Estates, 2023; IL) put together a quality two-way performance during Thursday’s scout day. Built at a strong and compact 5-foot-9, 180-pounds, Dorka swings a controlled left-handed bat and during BP round he averaged an exit velocity of 83.3 mph. He would then tease his arm strength during his defensive round where he topped at 89 mph from the outfield. To finish off his day, Dorka ran his fastball up 85.2 mph that averaged 14” of horizontal movement and nearly a foot of vertical break, too. As for his offspeeds, he spun in a mid-60s curveball with 1/7 action and also showed feel for a deceptive changeup in the mid-70s that played with late fade and occasional depth.

+ RHP Mason Hulligan ( is an upside 6-foot, 165-pound right-hander that is an easy and controlled mover on the bump. During his ‘pen, Hulligan was responsible for the hardest fastball of the event at 86.7 mph and it featured over 13” of vertical break, too. Off of his fastball, Hulligan was able to pound the zone with a low-70s slider that averaged over 10” of horizontal movement. He rounded out his three-pitch mix with a mid-70s changeup that he killed spin on and played with some fade to his armside.

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